Take Charge

It's Time For Government Leaders To Quit Stalling On Immigration Reform

July 16, 1996|By Richard Estrada. The Dallas Morning News.

DALLAS — As people clash physically on the streets of Los Angeles over immigration issues, Congress and the Clinton administration continue to fiddle.

In the most chilling immigration-related incident of late, national TV news footage of Hispanic and non-Hispanic white demonstrators pummeling each other over Proposition 187 on the 4th of July served to remind the nation of what the immigration status quo is spawning.

But for all the talk about immigration reform this year, Independence Day came and went without the House formally naming Republican and Democratic conferees to discuss their respective versions of immigration reform legislation. Nor is there any indication it is about to do so. The Senate has named 11.

In the House, much of the suspicion for non-action on the bill is focusing on Speaker Newt Gingrich and Majority Leader Dick Armey. In the Senate, the chairman of the judiciary committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R--Utah), is a longtime foe of immigration reform.

Gingrich in particular has thrown a monkey wrench into the process by championing a provision that would allow states to ban public education for illegal alien children. A congressional move to bar such students from receiving an education obscures the reality that jobs are the principal magnet to illegal immigration, not publicly funded benefits.

Congress should heed the message of 187 in a more balanced manner: It should extend impact aid to states of high immigration, but only while simultaneously moving to control the nation's borders. In promoting 187 at the national level, however, it is obvious that the Republican leadership is more desirous of nurturing a political issue going into the November elections, rather than passing an immigration bill.

Even if Congress gets its act together and puts a bill on President Clinton's desk, the education provision greatly enhances the prospects of a Clinton veto. In that event, specific reforms that might eventually curb illegal immigration, such as a pilot project for a national registry of eligible workers, would die as well.

The Clinton administration also has much to answer for in its handling of the immigration issue. President Clinton's Immigration and Naturalization Service is now facing serious questions as to whether it has been lying about its enforcement of the nation's immigration laws.

The charges include:

- Misleading a GOP congressional delegation on an inspection tour of the Miami immigration district. According to the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, immigration officials in Florida created the false impression that inspections and detentions in the district were running smoothly when the opposite was true.

- Issuing a deceptive press release on the eve of a Senate vote on legal immigration, to the effect that immigration levels were declining when the INS knew them to be rising. The Senate concluded that legal immigration was not a problem.

- Failing to ensure that naturalization applicants were fulfilling citizenship test requirements. Confronted with proof that private contracting organizations were giving out test answers, the INS promised to terminate the contract with a company in Dallas and a Miami-based corporation with 400 branches around the country.

- Falsifying reports of undocumented alien apprehensions in the biggest illegal border area near San Diego. The INS has dispatched a special audit team to investigate the charges. However, an audit team was unable to uncover the truth about charges relating to the congressional visit to the Miami INS district. Immigration policy experts are now raising the question of why the Justice Department's Inspector General has not been dispatched instead.

Against this entire backdrop, two major concerns come to mind. First and most obvious, the nation's political leaders must draw the line at willful distortions within the INS. Congress needs an accurate picture of what is happening in order to formulate and implement appropriate policies.

Second, any perception by the public that their leaders are turning a deaf ear to popular worries about immigration is now proving to be manifestly dangerous. When politicians ignore the democratic will, they may set in motion a greater indifference to the rule of law. Just as illegal aliens in Southern California flaunt their presence by demonstrating against immigration reform, outraged citizens who feel their interests are being ignored may resort to physical confrontation.

The proponents of the immigration status quo may feel otherwise, of course. After all, for example, ethnic political leaders and business interests have benefited greatly from policies that thrive on blue smoke and mirrors. But should they be in the mood for a reality check, they have only to watch the TV news from Southern California. In case they missed the latest from Los Angeles, they may wish to stay tuned for next month's GOP convention in San Diego. Already, pro- and anti-immigration interest groups are promising a major presence on the streets.